


Age of Inamoteph - Prologue 1 -  4000 years ago

by MoonFireTiaraSoulAction



Series: Age of Inamoteph [1]
Category: The Night Land - William Hope Hodgson
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 20:54:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14245542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonFireTiaraSoulAction/pseuds/MoonFireTiaraSoulAction
Summary: As the people of the Great Redoubt prepare to send a team outside to explore the world their ancestors had to leave behind centuries ago one of those heroes ponders what might be waiting for them outside.





	Age of Inamoteph - Prologue 1 -  4000 years ago

**Author's Note:**

> I am planning an epic semi-original tale based on the works of William Hope Hodgson and the world he described in his novel The Nightland in particular. Inspired by various Anime like Sailor Moon and Evangelion, Star Wars, Lovecraftian mythology and other works I plan to publish this narrative in a six-season episodic format.  
> However, due to my constantly getting side-tracked by ideas for other fanfic and building the background for the world and characters I am working on proving to be a longer undertaking than I expected I have written a lot of in-between (there's an inside joke here) narrative but haven't been able to properly start the story from the beginning.  
> That is why I plan to occasionally publish prologues, one-shots and others in order to inpire myself and build the background in real time if that makes any sense.

Chalwa looked at the black haired young woman in front of her.  
Annabella was still as beautiful as ever. A light skin, dark eyes, soft features and always a cheerful smile. She was one of the most admired women on level four in spite of her being smaller than average.  
Chalwa had admired her for a long time herself, but not for her looks.  
She wondered whether she meant as much to her friend as she did to her.  
Annabella was near impossible to read at the best of times and barely showed any emotion past the constant smile on her face.  
Chalwa straightened her posture. She wanted to look intimidating.  
Her handsome androgynous looks were now enhanced by her shortly cut blonde hair.  
Her plain grey and blue Monstruwacan uniform accentuated her muscular body.  
She was in prime condition, mentally and physically for the unimaginable undertaking she was about to set out for.  
"Are you ready?" Her opponent asked.  
How could she be? Something like this had never been done.  
Often during guard duty, she had looked out over the landscape in front of her. Wondering whether one day the outsiders would come over the mountain ranges in the far distance.  
Fearing the day that might see the destruction of them all.  
She wished Annabella had been selected to go with them.  
Sadly, Anna's parents were in the management of the easter pillars and their power and influence had enabled them to convince the ministry of level four to not send all of their most able Monstruwacan on this quest.  
"Give me your best. Before I leave I'll make you lick the floor," She at last responded.  
The training room was nice and cool. Obstacles were placed here and there to make the battlefield more realistic.  
Fake trees and rocks, bumps and crevices that each combatant could use to their advantage.  
Trainers and medical supervisors were recording and evaluating the fight as usual.  
They were always excited to evaluate Annabella's fights.  
Chalwa prided herself on seeing them taking extra notice whenever she came to fight nowadays.  
Out of nowhere, she opened with a high kick directed towards the other woman's left shoulder.  
It was a miss, just like the punch she threw next.  
Annabella didn't retaliate but allowed her friend's continued attacks to guide her backward until she would have stumbled into a crack in the floor.  
As Chalwa aimed a kick at her midriff she jumped high, landed elegantly on the blonde's shoulders and jumped off so she ended up behind her, landing a painful hit between Chalwa's shoulders.  
Cursing inwardly, the taller woman turned around and attempted a punch which was blocked and got her a punch between the ribs for her effort. Her face contorted.  
#Is it painful?# The black haired girl smiled cheerfully.  
She was still as fast as ever. Chalwa was so jealous of her speed.  
This time, however, she had to come out on top!  
To sustain her courage when she left on her quest she had to be able to beat Annabella before she left.  
She attempted to swipe her friend's leg, but Annabella jumped up and punched her in the cheek, unbalanced her after her swipe by pulling on her arm and threw her against one of the fake trees while her shoulder length dark hair trailed behind her in the fluent movement.  
Cornered, the blonde tried all she could to fend off the punches of her nimble foe.  
Finally, after having been mostly at the receiving end of a series of bruisers she managed to escape and move behind the tree, using it as a shield while she tried to recover.  
Exchanging fast punches as they circled the fake young Elm she searched for a way to surprise her friend.  
As Annabella come forward slightly too far, Chalwa saw her change and lashed out with her right.  
But to her surprise, she was much slower than she had intended.  
She realized the beating she had received had affected her more than she had bargained for and as her opponent evaded her attack she held out a fist that Chalwa stupidly stumbled into.  
Launching a kick, she hoped to keep her opponent at a distance, but Annabella crouched under her leg, punched her in the breast and face and then pulled her down in a headlock.  
Under the repeated punches of the black-haired woman, the blonde desperately tried to extricate herself.  
#Come on Chalwa. Don't give up!# Her friend giggled.  
She hated this part of Annabella: She knew she was trying to encourage her, but she knew part of her was enjoying this.  
At last, she succeeded in getting herself out of the suffocating grip and quickly kicked the other girl against the side.  
She punched in the air as she attacked again and realized she was nearly worn out.  
In last-ditch attempt to get some time to recuperate she threw herself on Annabella and clung to her body  
But her friend freed herself quickly and while the blonde hung on her body like a wet sheet she started to pound on her stomach.  
Chalwa wept in frustration as she realized that the fight was over.  
She remembered their first fight several years as they started their training as Monstruwacan.  
She was lying on the floor face down afterward, bleeding from cuts, bruises, and her nose, just wanting to rest when Annabella lifted her head up by her then long hair.  
That was one of the bleakest moments in her life.  
"Are you giving up?"The black haired girl smiled. Not a bruise on her body.  
Chalwa had just enough energy left to furiously respond:  
"I'll beat you someday! Just you wait! I'll repay you for this!" While blood spat out of her foaming mouth.  
But it was Annabella who later taught her more than the instructors and in time, became her closest friend.  
Back in the present, she had just enough energy to transmit: #Enough! I give up!#  
She was in too much pain for anything else.  
Her fellow Monstruwacan let her down softly so she could lie on the floor and rest.  
The medical supervisors approached them to give them a checkup and treat their wounds.

Half an hour later they were in their civilian clothes walking to the Vocular smelling like Avaenis.  
"I'll always associate this smell with you." Chalwa faintly smiled.  
Her friend laughed.  
"You held out very long considering the beating you got."  
"Yeah. But I wanted to beat you before I left."  
Annabella gave her a serious look.  
"Just make sure you come back. We have no idea what's beyond the mountains."  
"Well, that's the entire reason we're going."  
The smaller woman sulked playfully and looked down the corridor at the entrance to the Vocular.  
"I'm jealous."  
"I know," Chalwa grinned. "I wish you were going with me." She continued sadly.  
Annabella put her arm around her and she retaliated awkwardly.  
They didn't separate until they entered the famous central pillar Monstruwacan hang-out.  
The Vocular's central system recognized them as Chawla Mazitova and Annabella Mendoza as they entered the large entertainment hall.  
"You got any preferences?" The Annabella smiled as they entered a private cubicle.  
"What do I feel like... I know! I'd like to repeat what we had the day after your birthday party. Is that okay?"  
"What was that?"  
"We had an ocean theme and 6080's music."  
"Oh yeah. That was nice." Annabella nodded. #Repeat 26 November 6125.#  
#Menu display.# Chalwa transmitted to the central system.  
"What are you having?"  
"Hmm..."  
They pondered the list that appeared on the screen of the cubicle over the background of a stormy Pacific.  
"Don't take ages."  
A face appeared on the screen next to the menu list.  
"Oh! It's Mittapheap! Let him in?"  
Chalwa nodded curtly without looking away from the menu.  
The black Monstruwacan came in after Annabella transmitted the command.  
"What are you doing here in uniform Mitta?" She flirted.  
"Don't tell anyone. I'm starting guard duty in an hour and I saw you guys coming in here. Just wanted to say hello."  
"Hey, Mitta."  
Mittapheap turned to Chalwa who was still looking at the menu.  
"Hey."  
Annabella couldn't help giggle at the awkward silence.  
#If anything I'm happy you're going on the quest together.#  
#Shut up. You're a bother.#  
"Only seven days huh?" Their friend said, trying to engage the taller girl.  
A chilling empty feeling took hold of their guts.  
Chalwa finally looked him in the eyes.  
He could see the bruises on her face now and felt a slight protective anger flare up.  
"Hey, you could have gone easy on her Anna. You know where she's going."  
"That's exactly why I couldn't. Neither of us would have felt right parting with a lie."  
"She's right," The blonde smiled at her friend.  
"Well, anyway... Are you alright? I mean: How are you holding up?"  
"I'm doing alright as long as I'm not reminded I'm going to where no man has gone in more than a thousand years. Thank you."  
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel anxious."  
Chalwa blushed at his repeated clumsy outbreaks of affection.  
"It's alright Mitta. Thank you." She calmed him. "How are you doing?"  
"Well... The same I guess. Mom and dad are walking on eggshells. Trying their best not to cry in my presence. My grandparents are spoiling me terribly and the rest of my family think I'm a hero."  
Anna looked at her sad friends. "It's exciting though. Isn't it?! It's like a real Quadir Giordano movie." She smiled.  
"Thanks, Anna. But I don't much feel like having to fight my way through a bunch of monsters and fall in the sea from an overhanging cliff to find a beached pre-invasion warship where a handful of survivors are hiding.  
Anyway..." He checked the time from the Vocular's central system.  
"I better go to start my shift. I'll see you later."  
"Alright, Mitta." "See you later."  
Chalwa kept staring at the door as the undulating vocals of Orchestra Unterrestria were being transmitted to their heads.  
"I really am happy he is coming with you."  
"Yeah," The blonde smiled tremulously. "So am I.  
But I still wish you could come with us too."  
"Yeah..." Annabella smiled and gave her friend a hug. "So do I."  
Chalwa knew she meant it. She had appealed to the ministry to let her go and had made a very good case for herself.  
Unfortunately, her parents had made an even better case for her staying. So good that the ministry had been sufficiently convinced that her place was in the Redoubt and her duty was to protect her people from any possible attack from the outside.  
The truth of it was that while most of them were terrified, Chalwa knew her friend was only half joking about Quadir Giordano movies. Annabella who hadn't her equal in the Redoubt honestly dreamed of having to fend off some outsider monster.  
Most people would think she had a chemical imbalance if they knew what went on inside of her mind. Only Chalwa knew and accepted the real Annabella. The friend she was going to say goodbye to in a few days. Maybe forever.

Guard duty at night was nice. It wasn't envied, because you were supposed to be extra focused and let nothing escape your attention. And they all took their responsibility very seriously.  
Still... In over thousand years nothing had ever been reported by day nor night guards. It was cool at night in the desert. Not that the cold could penetrate their uniforms, but it was nice and chill.  
Their forbearers had had the wisdom to divest the valley of any vegetation so that stray outsiders wouldn't get drawn there by animals coming to feed.  
It's not that they needed the farmland anyway when the subterranean territory of the Redoubt held so much farmland and grazelands that they could potentially produce more food than they could ever consume.  
It's strange, Chalwa considered, that so little was recorded about those early years.  
You would think the people who build this place would want to share their every emotion with their descendants, but all there was technical data and a few journals and cultural productions from those days.  
Even the data was incomplete. They were still learning every day about the enormous pyramid that protected them all.  
But then they still found ancient recordings of all sorts among people's belongings and living compartments they had thought had remained sealed and uninhabited every year.  
Scary when you think of it. Apparently, there had always been people like the Kraken, who found ways to open up never before unsealed living compartments and build a home for themselves away from the rest of society. Chalwa had heard strange tales of those people. Deformities and strange customs were said to be found among them whenever a group was discovered.  
Often they had killed and mutilated themselves to hide those deformities before they could be evicted.  
Sad, that some people wanted to be alone so badly.  
The only thing Chalwa needed to feel alone was to go on night time guard duty.  
Here, outside you could find all the quiet and solitude you could wish for.  
Seven hours of nothing but your own mind as companion and the occasional talk with your fellow guards if you needed to.  
Chalwa didn't need to. No much.  
But tonight she felt more lonely than usual looking over the blank dimly lighted expanse of nothing in front of her.  
And she felt more afraid than usual.  
She could be excused for being fearful considering she was going to cross that empty desert in two days, but that was not the only reason she was so afraid at this moment.  
Because the sensation was there again.  
Since about a year ago the sensation had come over her at odd times when she had guard duty.  
It wasn't restricted to day or night duty and Annabella had never felt it, nor did she advise asking other guards. She had a point. It didn't serve anyone to spread fear. They had enough of that to go around in the Redoubt. Luckily they had learned to master those feelings for the most part.  
It was like something or someone was calling her through mind transmission, yet no message or data of any kind was accompanied by the sensation that was usually associated with a transmission.  
It was as if a machine was actively seeking to make contact with her mind but had nothing to communicate, only that wasn't quite the same feeling either.  
Anyway, it was a deeper awareness than that. Chalwa was convinced of that. It sounded like a delusion, but it felt like her body responded to the sensation on a subatomic level.  
She could never say something like that to anybody but Anna. She didn't even know how she had come by the idea, she certainly was no atom physicist, but that was what she felt she was experiencing right now.  
And that in itself was terrifying. She had learned military history as a Monstruwacan. She knew the Silent Ones could turn your mind against you. They could turn people into puppets and stand right beside you while you were none the wiser.  
But that's why they had regular neurological checkups after every guard duty and in between and nothing had ever come up.  
Still... She knew this had nothing to do with the Silent Ones.  
This was calling her. And when she heard a quest was being organized to explore the outside world after all those centuries and when she was informed that she was selected to be among the several thousand strong army accompanying the civilians that would venture out she knew that in part at least, it was the work of what was calling her.  
It was the reason that beyond being terrified she was just as hyped as Annabella to go out there. She was frightened to death of what she would find outside yes, but she wanted to find what was calling her. Be it her death or worse. Now that her participation in the quest was ensured she wanted more than ever to find the origin of the sensation.

#Jerry Nguyen!#  
#Yes, commander!#  
#Chawla Mazitova!#  
#Yes, commander!#  
One by one they stepped forward as their names were being called.  
The screams and cries of the people around them too deafening to do the roll-calls vocally.  
#Come back alright. Have fun out there. Find that thing you want to find and be a big hero, but come back in one piece and with your mind intact. But mainly have fun.#  
She could see Annabella turn around and smile as she managed the crew in charge of crowd control on her side of the quest group.  
Beyond Annabella, her father and mother and their grandparents, brothers. Her neighbors and friends. Her close family, her grandparents. And the people precious to the other members of the team.  
She knew that close to ninety percent of the people in the Redoubt would be watching their departure from their homes, workplaces or otherwise.  
A heroes departure. She had tears in her eyes.  
#Don't give me that sis. We'll see you back in a few years and you'll have amazing stories to tell. You'll be able to quit the service and live off your memoires for the rest of your life.#  
#And send a bit of money your way?# She grinned through her tears.  
#Everybody! Enter the Assembly Hall!#  
Good. It was time to leave. She couldn't take much more of this.  
#Be happy with Mitta! Have fun! I love you.# Anna's transmission reached her before she started her descent of the broad stairs that led to the Assembly Hall.  
#I love you all!# Were the last words she was able to transmit before the Alaiscäll-ed stairs, walls and ceiling blocked out all transmissions just as they should.  
Underneath, in the Assembly Hall, they were given their Diskos and backpack with everything they might need to survive outside on their own if they had to.  
They hoped they would never have to.  
They were alone now, no officials or superiors with them apart from the men and women that would lead them out there, standing before the great portal that they always passed when starting or ending guard duty.  
At a speed you wouldn't imagine from such a gigantic structure the great portal opened to the sides and up.  
A great genocided world spread before them as they passed and walked down and toward the edge of the forcefield that encircled the Redoubt.  
#Alright everybody. From here on there will be no vocal communication. I want you all to remember the special training you were given to prepare you for our journey. Trust in your training and obey the chain of command. And to the civilians I say: Trust in the Monstruwacan force and we will all gather the data we were asked to and come back to our loved ones#  
#Yes sir!# Came the general response.  
From high up underneath the spire, the command was given to lift the forcefield so as to allow the group of several thousand to pass. As one, they started their march through the desert into the unknown. The possibility of creatures who had emptied the world of their race eyeing them on all sides.  
#All I can say is I look forward to the moment we reach the mountains.# Mitta tried to engage her.  
Chalwa didn't respond for the moment. She was already engaged.  
The sensation had come over her the moment she had left the Redoubt.  
It was calling her.  
It was smiling.  
And the sensation of that smile confused and terrified Chalwa beyond reason.


End file.
